Bitter Creek tells the story of another massacre of the Indians that takes place in 1910 near the fictional town of Toussaint in Montana. This time, the people killed are Metis (descendants of French-Canadian and American Indian parents) and the story is told from a present day perspective. No one in Toussaint is alive when the killings took place, but there are rumors and whisperings floating around about the tragedy. Gabriel DuPre sets out to find who the killers were, assisted by his two friends, Patchen and Chappie, both badly injured in the War in Iraq. There are twists and turns that take DuPre and friends on a wild ride through local history and persons who don't want them to find out the real truth and people who do. Plenty of mystery and suspense in this one published by Open Road Integrated Media.
Not having read anything by Peter Bowen that I recall, I found the story to be humorous, exciting, and detailed in its descriptions of the landscape and types of people involved. There was one survivor of the massacre, a young girl name of Amalie who is now over a hundred years old and is in a nursing home in Canada. To talk to her long enough, they had to sign her out of the home and bring her back to Toussaint where they could do it at leisure, which turned out to be quite an adventure. Along with Amalie, the other characters in the story, guilty or not, are well-described and add much to the goings-on. Gabriel DuPre has plenty to deal with, a couple of killings and trips to Washington, D. C. and Seattle before he finally wraps up the mystery.
It was one of the most interesting books I've read in a while and highly recommend it to anyone who likes mysteries and the West, definitely a five-star rating from me.
Western mysteries are always a great read. This one sounds good.
ReplyDeleteI really liked it, Neil.
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